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BANG 

Of the Diamond Tail 

























BANG 



Of the Diamond Tail 


JUNIOR PRESS BOOKS 

ALBERT^fWH ITMAN 
4co 

CHICAGO 

1935 




Lithographed in the United States 


C'ClA 87005 R 

SEP 161335 








BANG 


A WILD black colt without a name was playing 
near his mother on a mountain mesa. Red and 
blue flowers blossomed in the grass. The little 
colt felt so gay that he kicked up his little heels, and 
made a noise like “He, he, he!” 

The mother horse had a diamond and tail on her 
flank. This was a brand to show they both belonged 
to the Diamond Tail cattle ranch. The wild colt did 
not know he belonged to anybody. 

His mother was a cow pony and knew how to work. 
The colt did not want to work. He wanted to play. He 
jumped around and made funny noises — “He, he, 
he.” 


5 



Soon two cowboy riders came their way. 

One of the riders was Jack West. He was too young 
to drive cattle, but he wore cowboy chaps and a wide 
hat. 

Soon Jack saw the mother horse. He knew her be¬ 
cause she was spotted brown and white. “Dina has a 
new colt,” he said to the cowboy beside him. 

Dina was a nickname. The real-name of the mother 
horse was Dynamite. 

“Daddy gave the colt to me,” said Jack. 

“What is his name?” asked the cowboy. 

Just then, the colt’s heels hit a log, with a bang. “I 
shall call him Bang,” said Jack. 

They had come to catch Dynamite and put her to 
her work. 





“Dina has a new colt,” 


he said 










The cowboy threw a rope and caught Dynamite. 

Bang was surprised. His mother kicked and 
squealed like a bad cow pony. 

She was only playing. She really liked to work. 

There was a big bull near by. He did not want 
horses and cowboys on the mesa. He did not like 
horses, so he ran at Bang with his long horns. 

At once the cowboy rode Dynamite between the 
bull and little Bang. Dynamite stood still until the 
bull was near, then she danced away. 





The bull could not stop himself. He ran straight 
on right past Bang and bumped his head against a 
rock. 

The bull ran away making an ugly noise — “Brr-r- 
umble!” Dynamite and the cowboy dashed up a moun¬ 
tain path. 

Soon they found some cows with calves. Each 
mother cow had a large white face. Each calf had a 
small white face. Each mother cow had a diamond 
and tail marked on her flank. Not one of the calves 
had any kind of mark. 

The cowboy pointed Dynamite’s head at a cow. 
“Cut her out, Dina,” he said. This meant to drive that 
cow out of the herd. 

Dynamite understood. She chased the cow into a 
path which led to the ranch. Then she and the cow¬ 
boy went back for another cow. The cowboy could 
not drive cows without Dynamite. 

Soon all the cows were running down the path 
toward the ranch. All the calves followed. They did 
not know what else to do. Bang followed too, as he 
did not know what else to do either. 

Not one of the cows wanted to go to the ranch. 


9 


Not one of the calves did either. They all wanted to 
run away so Dynamite had to watch them every 
minute. 

When they came to the ranch not one of the cows 
wanted to go into the corral. Not one of the calves 
did either. There was a great deal of dust. There was 
a great deal of noise. But soon Dynamite had them all 
in the corral. 


10 


Jack asked his father why the mother horse was 
named Dynamite. 

“Because she works fast/’ said Mr. West. “Dyna¬ 
mite always does things quickly .’ 5 

That day, Dynamite was working hard and fast, 
driving the wild cows. When Bang looked over the 
corral fence she did not look at him. 

Bang was more than two months old so he could 


11 


play alone. He did not like the noise and dust so he 
went a little way off on the mesa. There he played 
alone and made funny noises and kicked up his heels. 

At last he grew tired. He thought he would find his 
mother and see whether she was through working, so 
he trotted up to the corral. 

There he had a big surprise. 

Mr. West came around the corral with a rope on his 
arm. He shouted, “Come, Jack. You must brand your 
colt.” 

Bang did not see Mr. West throw the rope but it fell 
around his feet. He could not run. He fell down instead, 
and Mr. West sat down on him and held him. 

Jack came running with a branding iron in his hand. 
Bang squealed very loud when Jack stuck the brand¬ 
ing iron on his flank. It did not hurt very much but it 
made Bang angry. 

Jack had branded him so that the Diamond Tail 
cowboys would know he belonged to the ranch. Bang 
did not understand this. Besides he did not want to 
belong to anybody. 

When Jack let him get up Bang ran away out onto 
the mesa. But it was getting late in the day, so he came 


12 


back soon and began looking around for his mother. 

At last Bang saw his mother helping the cowboys 
to brand calves. Not one of the calves wanted to have 
a brand. 

Not one of the cows wanted her calf to have a 
brand. The cows were angry with Dynamite and shook 
their horns at her. 

It was Jack’s duty to open and shut the gate of the 
corral. When a calf had been branded he let it out. 











Then the cow would come too. Each calf had been 
marked in the same way with a diamond and tail. 

Bang did not know there was now a diamond and 
tail on his own little flank. 

Dynamite worked fast. The cowboy pointed her 
head at a big calf, then threw his rope and caught the 
calf. The calf fell down. The cowboy jumped off Dy¬ 
namite and fixed his rope to the saddle. 

“Hold the calf, Dina. Smart girl!” he cried. 

If the rope became loose ,the calf would get up, so 
Dynamite held it tight. Soon the cowboy came running 
with a branding iron, and Dynamite dragged the calf 
to meet him. 


14 







Dynamite held the rope tight 













He stamped a diamond and tail on the calf’s flank. 
Then Dynamite let the branded calf get up and run to 
the mother cow. 

Next day the cowboys let Dynamite go back to the 
mountain, so Bang went too. 

They lived in a valley with a beaver pond. The grass 
was thick and juicy. Dynamite liked it so much that 
Bang tried to eat it. Soon he liked grass better than 
he did his mother’s milk. He was not a baby any 
more. 

The beavers slept all day. They came out when the 
water grew pink at sunset and played all around the 
pond. 

In the autumn the pond began to have a queer 
smell, so Bang and Dynamite went to the ranch and 
drank with the work horses. 


16 



At the ranch Bang saw a colt named Kicker. Kicker 
was three years old and it was time he learned to work. 

Kicker did not want to learn anything. When the 
cowboy got on him he started bucking. This means 
that he put his head down and kicked out with his hind 
legs. 

Many good ponies buck. When they see they cannot 
throw their riders they go to work. Bucking is partly 
fun on their part. 

Kicker was bad-tempered. He started to lie down 
and roll and the man jumped off. Dynamite thought 
rolling an ugly trick. A horse that rolled could not 
drive cows. 

But Bang thought Kicker was clever because he 
would not work. 




Dynamite helped the cowboys with what is called 
the autumn roundup. That is when wild cattle are 
driven from the mountains to the ranch. 

She was busy all day. Bang played alone and saw 
many new things. One was a large bird that jumped 
on the fence and said, “Cock-a-doodle-do.” 

Once Bang was thirsty and found that there was 
no water in the trough. 

Suddenly the wind began blowing. A wheel far 
above him turned around and around. A pump went 
up and down till water rose from underground. Soon 
water ran into the trough and Bang had a nice drink. 

He thought it was fine to have the wind work hard 
and pump water for him. 

Jack said, “I don’t want Bang to grow up like 
Kicker. I’ll get a little bridle and teach him to 
work.” 


18 







Bang had a nice drink 


















Bang did not want to work. He ran away and away 
until he came to the beaver pond. He thought he 
would find his mother there, but she was gone. 

The gay flowers were gone. The beavers had no 
time to play. They were busy cutting trees for food. 
If a beaver did not work, the others drove him away. 

Soon snow would fall. Cattle and horses would find 
food at the ranches where they belonged. Wild animals 
did not belong to anyone so they worked hard for them¬ 
selves. 

Bang did not care. He played and kicked up his 
heels. 


20 






Night came. When it was growing dark Bang heard 
some coyotes barking. He was afraid of coyotes so he 
went into a grove of trees and lay very still. 

Suddenly he saw Kicker not far away. The cow¬ 
boys had let Kicker go because they could not use a 
horse with ugly tricks. 

Bang thought he and Kicker could be friends. They 
could sleep together and if coyotes came, Kicker could 
fight. 

So Bang got up and ran to meet Kicker. 







But Kicker did not wish to make friends with a 
baby horse. He kicked Bang in the stomach. Then he 
ran away. 

A long time passed. The grass became dry and 
sharp. Bang could hardly chew it. Since he was very 
hungry he swallowed it without chewing. 

One day he climbed a hill and ate some ugly weeds. 
Soon he began to feel very sick. 

When cattle eat hard dry grass, they bring it up 
from their stomachs and chew it over again. A horse 
cannot do this. He has to be careful. 

Bang hung down his head. His legs trembled. 
There was nobody to care that he had a bad pain in 
his stomach. A magpie came near and squawked as if 
to make fun of him. 







Bang hung down his head 






















Bang was wilder than a farm colt. His great-great¬ 
grandfather had belonged to a wild herd that had run 
loose in Texas. The Indians used to catch these wild 
horses and make them work. 










Many cow ponies are great-great-grandchildren of 
these Indian ponies. That is why they like to wander 
away. 

When Bang got over his pain, he started off, trying 
to find a better place to live. 

Bang crossed a stream where the mud was sticky 
and black. 

When he reached the other side he was in a wild 
place. There were tall, dark rocks. The river made a 
noise like thunder. Far away, a mountain lion yelled. 

In his fright, Bang ran and ran until he did not 
know where he was. He was lost. 

The grass was as bad as the grass in Beaver Valley. 
Deer flies stung his eyes and nose, and made them 
sore. 

The wind grew cold and the sky was dark. Soon 
Bang felt cold flakes on his little back. Snow was fall¬ 
ing. 

Before long the snow was so heavy that all the 
grass was covered and Bang could not reach it. His 
feet were cold and his back was all white. 

Two cowboys rode up, looking for lost horses. The 
cowboys came from a ranch which had a star for its 


25 


brand. They saw that Bang did not wear a star, so 
they rode away without him. 

It was quiet on the snowy mountain. The coyotes 
went away to a place where they found more food. 
The song birds had gone to Texas or Mexico for the 
winter. Bang could see no birds except a flicker hunt¬ 
ing beetles’ eggs on a tree. 

There was no food anywhere for a horse, so Bang 
thought he would try to go back to the ranch. 

He traveled east, he traveled west. Each path he 
tried took him farther from home. Each day was 
colder than the day before. 

Bang grew thin. His bones stuck out. His eyes and 




nose were swollen. He looked like nobody’s horse. 

Bears were asleep in their warm dens. Beavers 
were asleep in their houses. They only waked up to 
eat aspen bark under the ice. Chipmunks were asleep 
in their holes. They waked up only to eat nuts and 
seeds. 

At the Diamond Tail ranch, the cowboys had a fine 
dinner with plum pudding, for it was Thanksgiving 
Day. 

The work horses had dinner in their sheds. Some 
cow ponies stayed outdoors and slept under the cedar 
trees. These had dinner at a hayrack kept full by the 
cowboys. 

At dark the cow ponies came near the ranch house 
and saw its lights. 

Bang had no Thanksgiving dinner. He was no¬ 
body’s horse. 


27 





The day after Thanksgiving was very cold. A crust 
froze on the snow, so Bang could walk on top of the 
big drifts. 

He went to a place known as Lion Valley. Here 
some big deer, called elk, were having a fine dinner of 
hay. 

Each year kind people brought loads of hay to Lion 
Valley, to keep the elk from starving. 

Bang tried to get a little hay but a big elk chased 
him away. 

After that he gave up trying. Cold, hungry, and all 
alone, he stayed under a pine tree in Lion Valley. 


That afternoon, Jack met a cowboy from the Star 
Ranch. 

“Have you seen a lost colt?” asked Jack. 

“I saw a lost colt near Lion Valley,” the cowboy 
said, “and he had a diamond tail brand.” 

“He must be my colt,” said Jack. So he rode until 
he came to Lion Valley, and there was Bang under a 
tree. 

When Jack came to catch him, Bang did not kick up 
his heels. He did not even try to run away. 

Jack put a little bridle on him and started to lead 
him home by a rope tied to the bridle. 

Jack did not ride fast because Bang was very weak. 
They went along until they found a road that led to the 
Diamond Tail ranch. 

It was dark when they reached the ranch. The 
work horses were eating their supper of oats and hay. 
The dogs had worked hard driving coyotes away and 
they were now very busy eating their supper of bread 
and meat. 

Suddenly Bang saw his mother. She had worked 
hard all day driving some wild cattle. Now she was 
eating her supper of hay and corn. 


29 



She did not wait to finish. She ran to meet Bang 
and rubbed her nose on his. 

Soon Bang was eating his supper of good dry mash. 

“I must teach Bang to work/’ said Jack. “Maybe 
that bridle hurt him. Since he did not like it I will 
make another.” 

When Bang grew strong again, Jack put a new 
bridle on him, and a piece of cloth across his back that 
was like a saddle. 

Bang did not like the new bridle. He raced around 
the corral and tried to get it off. He did not like the 
little saddle either. But Jack was very kind to him, so 
in time he grew used to the saddle and bridle. 

He was too small to drive cows. He was too small 


30 




Jack put a new bridle on him 






to carry a person on his back. All he could do now was 
to learn to work. 

Jack taught him well. His back grew strong. His 
legs grew long. 

When he was three years old he had learned to 
work. Now he could carry Jack, so they both went on 
the roundup. 

Then Jack thought he would take him to the rodeo. 
A rodeo is a show. Each year the cowboys bring their 
best horses to the rodeo. A prize is given for the best 
working pony. 

That year the judges put a blue ribbon on Bang’s 
bridle, for he was the prize cow pony. Nobody knew 
that when he was small he ran away so he would not 
have to work. 





































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